Field Day has been postponed until Tuesday, May 5th due to weather concerns!

Prom 2015, Enchanted Forest,will take place on Saturday, May 16th, beginning at 7:30 PM in the Wilson Center. Classes are making dinner reservations now, so make sure that you are aware of the plan for your class! See a member of the Class of 2015 to purchase tickets: $25 per person/$40 per couple. Please note that you are required to dress appropriately for this event—slacks, collared shirt, a tie, and a jacket [at the least] for gentlemen, and dresses for the ladies. You can, of course, go totally formal with a tux or gown, but this is NOT required! If you are in doubt about an outfit, that’s probably a sign…. Check with a prom committee member if you really need guidance!

AP exams are scheduled for the first two weeks in May, and MUST be taken at specified times. There are NO make-ups for these, and NO late testing is allowed. For those of you taking the AP US History exam, this is scheduled for Friday, May 8th at 8:00 AM in the basement of the Meeting House. The AP Comparative Government and Politics exam is scheduled for Thursday, May 14th at 8:00 AM in the Meeting House library.

Advanced Placement Art History:Hopefully you are on track! The AP Art History exam is scheduled for noon on Thursday, May 7th in the Meeting House library.

Advanced Placement Calculus AB: Please be sure that you are where you need to be in this online class! You may want to use Khan Academy to reinforce any concepts you are having trouble with! If you have tests scheduled, you MUST be ready to take these on time on A days when your class is scheduled with me! The AP Calculus AB exam is scheduled for 8:00 AM on Tuesday, May 5th in the Meeting House library.

Advanced Placement English Language and Composition:Please be sure that you are where you need to be in this online class as there is a LOT of reading to do! The AP English Language and Composition exam is scheduled for 8:00 AM on Wednesday, May 13th in the Meeting House library.Advanced Placement Psychology: Please be sure that you are where you need to be in this online class! If you have tests scheduled, you MUST be ready to take these on time on A days when your class is scheduled with me! The AP Psychology exam is scheduled for noon on Monday, May 4th in the Meeting House library.

American Literature:This week we will begin a new unit, 1914-1945: American Modernism. We have two reading selections for this week:

Zora Neale Hurston: “How it Feels to be Colored Me” [2157-2161]

F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Winter Dreams” [2184-2201]

We will also discuss Multimedia Project 2, which can be found on pages 8 and 9 of your syllabus. This project will be presented in lieu of a final exam for this course.Contemporary Fiction: We will wrap up Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress with a final discussion before turning to a film adaptation of the novel. Instead of blog entries for this week [be sure that you have posted your response for the week 13 blog by midnight Monday night], you will be writing a comparison of the book to the film to turn in once we finish the film. We will also be discussing the final project for the course, an explication of a selection from The Norton Anthology of Short Stories, which will be presented in lieu of a final exam for the course.

Psychology [online]: Make sure that you stay on track with this class, following the pacing guide, as once you get behind in an online class, it is difficult to get caught up again! If you have tests to take, these MUST be taken on A days when I have you in class!

Shakespeare's Comedies and Poetry: Don’t forget to turn in your permission slips for our trip to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton on Thursday, May 7th! We will finish reading The Merchant of Venice and then watch the incredibly talented Al Pacino embodying Shylock in the 2004 film adaptation directed by Michael Radford. Reminder: your biopoem for a character in The Merchant of Venice is again due on Friday, May 1st, as Field Day has been postponed to Tuesday, May 5th!!!!

World Literature: This week we will start with an assessment of the reading assignment I gave you last week, Kojima Nobuo’s “The American School,” before we move on to a new unit, Trying to Discern the Thoughts of the Other. We will be focusing on Korea with two documentaries:

The Glories of Korea,

The Wonders of Korea,

a short story in two translations:

“Cranes,”

and then a film which depicts the difficulties encountered by a spoiled young man from the city and his country grandmother when they are thrown together for the summer:

The Way Home.

This is a B week, and classes WILL be held on Friday, May 1st with Field Day postponed to Tuesday, May 5th!Final exams begin on Friday, June 5th! For those of you who like to plan ahead, the schedule for final exams is as follows:Daily Schedule 8:30 – 9:00 Advisory 9:00 – 11:30 morning exams 11:30 – 12:25 Lunch 12:30 – 3:00 afternoon examsFriday, June 5th Morning: block 1 Afternoon: block 2Monday, June 8th Morning: block 3 Afternoon: block 4Tuesday, June 9th Morning: block 5 Afternoon: block 6Wednesday, June 10thMorning: block 7Afternoon: block 8Thursday, June 11thAwards CeremonyEarly dismissalSaturday, June 13thGraduation at 2:00 PM in the Wilson CenterALL CLASSES WILL HAVE A FINAL EXAM OR CULMINATING ACTIVITY, SO PLAN TO BE HERE!!!! Have a great week! Teacher Barb :)

If you plan to buy a 2015 yearbook, you need to turn in the form and $15 to the Publications and Media class ASAP! Checks may be made out to VBFS—Yearbook. See Teacher Jeff, Benny, Kaleigh, or Tessa if you have any questions.

AP exams are scheduled for the first two weeks in May, and MUST be taken at specified times. There are NO make-ups for these, and NO late testing is allowed. For those of you taking the AP US History exam, this is scheduled for Friday, May 8th at 8:00 AM in the basement of the Meeting House. The AP Comparative Government and Politics exam is scheduled for Thursday, May 14th at 8:00 AM in the Meeting House library.

Advanced Placement Art History: Hopefully you are on track!The AP Art History exam is scheduled for noon on Thursday, May 7th in the Meeting House library.Advanced Placement Calculus AB: Please be sure that you are where you need to be in this online class! You may want to use Khan Academy to reinforce any concepts you are having trouble with! If you have tests scheduled, you MUST be ready to take these on time on A days when your class is scheduled with me! The AP Calculus AB exam is scheduled for 8:00 AM on Tuesday, May 5th in the Meeting House library.Advanced Placement English Language and Composition:Please be sure that you are where you need to be in this online class as there is a LOT of reading to do! The AP English Language and Composition exam is scheduled for 8:00 AM on Wednesday, May 13th in the Meeting House library.Advanced Placement Psychology: Please be sure that you are where you need to be in this online class! If you have tests scheduled, you MUST be ready to take these on time on A days when your class is scheduled with me!The AP Psychology exam is scheduled for noon on Monday, May 4th in the Meeting House library.American Literature:This week we will continue with American Realism, finishing with Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn before moving on to three other selections:

Stephen Crane: “The Open Boat” [1777-1795]

Jack London: “To Build a Fire” [1825-1836]

Jane Addams: from Twenty Years at Hull House [1873-1880]

Contemporary Fiction: We will continue reading Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, our novel about China’s “Great Leap Forward” under Mao; you need to finish reading this before posting your original response to the blog by Thursday at midnight and a response to a classmate by Saturday midnight. KEEP READING!!!!Psychology [online]: Make sure that you stay on track with this class, following the pacing guide, as once you get behind in an online class, it is difficult to get caught up again! If you have tests to take, these MUST be taken on A days when I have you in class!

Shakespeare's Comedies and Poetry: This week we begin a new play, The Merchant of Venice. This is one of those plays that fits the definition of a “comedy” in Shakespeare's time as we have disguises and weddings, but this play also has a darker side that will make you think. REMINDER: your Much Ado About Nothing acrostic is due on Thursday, April 23rd—Shakespeare's 451st birthday!World Literature: This week we will finish with our unit Home Invaded by Other. Our selections this week focus on the effects of World War II on the Japanese who are first bombed and defeated in war and then “occupied” by their former enemies:

Grave of the Fireflies [DVD]

Kojima Nobuo, “The American School” [2896-2919]

Don't forget, you map/timeline for Zaabalawi is due on Thursday, the 23rd.

This is an A week, and the weather is supposed to be warmer, but that doesn't mean that you should slack off—we still have several weeks to go before the semester ends, so stay on track!